Jakob Dylan, Michael Stipe, the Flaming Lips and Pixies are among the artists honoring David Bowie Thursday at a Carnegie Hall tribute concert that turned into a memorial through some bizarre timing.
Organizers of a benefit for music education that each year focuses on the work of a particular artist had decided last fall that Bowie would be featured. They publicly announced it in January — just hours before Bowie’s family said the rock star had died on Jan. 10.
The concert sold out in two hours, demand so fierce that a second show was added for Friday at Radio City Music Hall.
Bob Dylan, Prince, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen and David Byrne are among the artists whose work has been featured in the annual benefit, in its 13th year. Springsteen and Byrne performed themselves at their own tributes.
After Bowie died, so many artists who were invited to perform said they wanted to do it that organizers didn’t have enough room and had to turn some away, said Michael Dorf, who produces the show.
“We felt kind of awkward because we are usually so humbly grateful to anyone who wants to participate in this,” he said.
Deborah Harry, Cat Power, Perry Farrell, Cyndi Lauper, Bette Midler and Bettye LaVette are also scheduled to perform. But there’s apparently some bad blood involving another announced artist, the Roots, whose leader Questlove said via social media Wednesday that his band and guests Bilal and Kimbra were pulling out of the show.
Questlove said he was angry that a fellow musician wouldn’t let him use some equipment.
Dorf said that on a tight rehearsal stage Wednesday, there was a miscommunication about the use of Holy Holy’s drum kit, and that he hoped Questlove would reconsider.
“They have been a regular part of our tribute series and we deeply love and respect them,” he said in a statement.
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